Sasuke's Birthday: I'm Lost
by Tsukiko no Yuki
Summary: [Complete][SasuSaku] A late birthday fic for Sasukekun in which Sakura and Sasuke himself remember how they first met... on Sasuke's birthday.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Unfortunately.

* * *

**Sasuke's Birthday: I'm Lost **

23rd of July. Uchiha Sasuke's birthday.

Sakura stared at the deserted place which was once known as the Uchiha grounds of Konoha. It almost seemed likea tiny village... now in ruins. Once, people talked here... laughed... _lived_... now they were all dead.

Except two.

The Uchiha brothers, both missing-nin. The Akatsuki member Itachi and Orochimaru's to-be container, Sasuke.

And today... it was Sasuke's birthday.

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled sadly and leaned against a dusty wall, sitting down on the ground outside a house and stared at the house opposite her. _Sasuke-kun's home... _

She closed her eyes, and remembered the first time she met him. She was seven years old back then... and she was...

_Lost... _

A pair of onyx eyes watched her from a certain distance. Did she know...? Was she thinking of that time for eight years ago, when she had entered those grounds?

_

* * *

_

Sasuke had always loved his birthday. Every time, his mother Mikoto would make a lovely, delicious cake, and all his relatives would be coming to their house to party. And of course, their house was the biggest of all the Uchihas' houses, and Sasuke was very proud of it.

This year was in no ways different. All Uchihas had come to their house, and they were talking and laughing, and everybody was happy. Every now and then, the adults would look at the now seven years old Sasuke and wish him a happy birthday with a smile.

"Arigatou!" Sasuke would beam back in reply and then he'd go around, just watching everybody.

"Sasuke," he heard a gentle voice say in his ear, "Why don't you go out a while?"

Sasuke twirled around and faced his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, whom he was very alike to the looks. Sasuke knew what it meant; that they were going to surprise him! But it wasn't that much of a surprise, since they did it every year. But still, every time, Sasuke would feel so happy.

"Okay," he replied, and with a wide grin he walked out and started to wander around. After just a couple of minutes, Sasuke felt bored, and began toying around with a couple of shuriken and threw it at a nearby tree out of boredom. Then he heard a little girl's voice say in fright:

"P-p-please! Don't... don't kill me!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Was he dreaming, or had the tree _talked_?

"Who's there?" he asked cautiously as he stepped forward with a raised kunai. A little girl's head appeared behind the tree. A girl with... pink hair?

Sasuke blinked a couple of times, as she stepped out. Yes, pink hair, red ribbon, green eyes, wearing ared dressalong with a pair ofblue sandals. But... pink hair?

"D-don't kill me... p-please?" she stuttered, and looked very afraid.

"Who're you, and what're you doing here?" Sasuke asked with a little frown. "This is the Uchiha grounds. You're not allowed here."

"Uh... g... gomen..." The green eyes filled with tears. Sasuke felt a bit uncomfortable. "I.. I got lost... I was going to pick flowers, b-b-but..." She swallowed.

Sasuke crossed his arms. "You got lost?"

She nodded slowly.

"Who are you, anyway?"

"Sakura... Haruno Sakura", she whispered.

Sasuke felt strongly attached to the name, though he didn't know why. His eyes inspected the girl. She was pretty cute. "Sakura, was it?" he said and put his hands in his pockets.

"Hai!" she replied, looking a bit frightened.

"And you live in Konoha, right?"

"Hai!"

He started to walk. She looked after him with an astonished expression. "Na... nani?"

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. "Didn't you say you were lost? Come along, then."

"H-hai!" Sakura began running after him and soon caught up with him and started walking.

Sasuke glanced at her from the corner of his left eye. She was weird... but cute. Then he noticed that she was glancing back, and as their eyes met, they both looked away. _Why do I feel embarrassed? _Sasuke asked himself. _And why... _He glanced at her again. _... does it feel as though I can't stop looking at her?_

* * *

Sakura blushed a little as she tried to focus on where they walked. I don't know him. He may be a bully, or a robber, or just a very bad person... so why do I trust him? 

As though reading her thoughts, the boy beside her said: "I'm not evil, if that's what you're thinking about. At least, I don't think I am."

Sakura looked slightly startled at this statement. Could he read thoughts? "... Oh." She thought a while, and then smiled a little as she asked as happily as she could manage: "But hey, you haven't told me your name yet. What's your name?"

The boy stopped in his tracks and looked at her. Sakura felt her heart pound harder and faster as his raven eyes pierced into hers. For one wild, silent moment, she almost thought he was going to kiss her.

Then he turned away and continued walking. Sakura felt lesser nervous now... and what was she thinking about? Strangers don't kiss each other. They had just met; if he had kissed her, that'd prove he only liked her because she was cute or because he was a player. But he didn't seem like that kind of a person.

"Uchiha Sasuke", he finally responded after some more silence.

Uchiha Sasuke... Sakura reminded herself to remember that name. It's a special name... just the way he's a special person.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun...?" Sasuke's eyes looked into hers again, but this time the two of them didn't stop walking. "Do you... live there? Where we were before?"

Sasuke looked away again. "Yeah. Don't you know where you were?"

"... No", she responded after thinking a while. "I've never been there before... or even heard of such a place. Where was I?"

"The Uchiha grounds. That is, my clan's grounds. You've never been in the outskirts of Konoha before, have you?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, my parents won't let me."

"So why did you disobey them?" he asked with a kind of sternness in his voice.

"Because..." Sakura hesitated. "... because Ino-chan said it wasn't dangerous. She said we'd only play a little. Then we went to play Hide-and-Seek and I got lost..."

"Hn."

"Hn?" Sakura repeated, confused. "What do you mean?"

"... Nothing. Forget about it."

They both were quiet once more, and Sakura secretly glanced at him from her eyecorner and suppressed a giggle. He was really cute.

"What's so funny?" he asked irritably as he saw her smile.

"Oh, nothing. I just think you're cute."

Did she just say what she thought she had said? Sakura almost fell over in shock, but stopped herself from doing so in the last moment. She never said those kinds of things to guys. After all, guys were bullying her. But this guy wasn't a bully, so it was OK...

... right?

* * *

"Hn", Sasuke said again, unsure what to answer. He was used to the fact that girls began literally drooling whenever he came around, but they had never really said that he was cute that way. The way she said he was cute seemed... innocent. It wasn't giggly, seductive or flirty as with other girls. It was... innocent... and... 

... cute.

Had he just thought she was cute? What was wrong with him, anyway? He seemed all... weird. He almost felt for kissing her or something back when he had stared into her eyes.

_I **knew** I shouldn't have watched that romantic movie with kaa-san. It was so girly anyway._

Kaa-san? Sasuke suddenly remembered. His birthday party! He resisted the urge to slap his forehead and then looked around. Yeah, this was the road that led back to Konoha.

"Yo", said Sasuke, making Sakura look at him again. He glanced at her emerald eyes. They were so beautiful... and sparkly... and...

_Argh._

"This road goes straight to Konoha. This way you'll probably find your way back to Innie or Ine, or whatever her name was -"

"Ino-chan, Sasuke-kun", she corrected him.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, you think you can manage walking here by yourself? You just go straight forward and stuff. Besides, I need to get back to my birthday party."

"Okay." Sakura smiled widely. "Arigatou, Sasuke-kun." He turned around to leave, when he heard her 'little girl voice' say: "And, Sasuke-kun... happy birthday."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Thanks." Then they started to walk in opposite directions.

* * *

Sakura stood up again and looked around to assure nobody was there. Then she looked up at the sky, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Well, Sasuke-kun... happy birthday." 

And she started to walk away from the empty Uchiha grounds.

But maybe they weren't as empty as she had thought, because as soon as she was out of sight, a person with black, spiky hair and onyx eyes jumped down from a roof and murmured: "Thanks... Sakura."

* * *

**Tsukiko: **A little late birthday fic for our dearest Sasuke-kun:D I hope you enjoyed it! 


End file.
